


Stay with me

by DiscipulaAlba



Series: Songs for a Lullaby [1]
Category: Stay with me - Mendum
Genre: Aliens, Colonization, Discrimination, Drama, Festivals, Future, Gen, Melancholy, Mendum, Science Fiction, Siblings, Sister-Sister Relationship, Sisters, Small Towns, Song - Freeform, Songfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:49:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28760583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DiscipulaAlba/pseuds/DiscipulaAlba
Summary: Marija and Alaya are sisters, but their personalities are really different. One is cheerful and takes life with easiness, while the other is more cold and detached.Since they were little, they promised to go every year at the festival of their town, so they could spend a night away from the reality around them. But this reality is oppressing Alaya more and more.But they both believe in the strength of their bond, even if the events would endanger it.
Series: Songs for a Lullaby [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2108607





	1. 1

She tried to attach the hairpin on the small braid she had combed. It was already the third try, and she feared she would not like the result again. The golden tuft was always in the wrong place. It was or too on the top or too on the side.

« Marija? »

She flinched at that call, and the harping slipped out of her hand, falling on the ground. She turned. On the arched entrance, there was a young girl with long white hair. They felt on her traditional white dress, ornated with pink and purple orchids. She had a hairbrush on her hand, her intentions were clear.

« Alaya, did you want to cause me a heart attack? You can knock the door. »

Alaya tilted her head on the right and looked at her with her enigmatic lilac eyes, stained with pink shades.

That meant only one thing: cryptic answer incoming.

« I've thought that knowing I came inside your room so many times and that you should recognize my voice, you would not get scared. »

She huffed and reached Alaya. She grabbed her hand and brought her near the mirror.

« It is a human reaction getting scared if... »

She noticed Alaya looking at her with an inquisitive look and decided to do not continue the conversation. It could become very long, and she did not want to lose the festival, not that night.

She took the stool near her desk and put it in front of the mirror, then she sat Alaya on it. She took the hairbrush from her hand and started to brush her hair.

« What will you do when I could not help you? » she asked, trying to comb that white skein in a high ponytail.

She tried to make a joke, but it burdened her. Brushing her sister's hair was a regular and stupid action, but she knew she would have missed it. It was part of her daily life, and without it, a piece of her life would have been gone.

Alaya took her hand when a tear came down her cheek.

« Hey, is everything alright? »

Her sister looked worried, and she dried her eyes with her hand to clam her down.

« Sure! We have to have fun tonight, right? »

***

_The attic was dustier of what she expected, so much that she sneezed. A cloud of dust raised from the table next to her, dissipating into the air. She hated that dark place that smelled old, but that was the place where they kept the dresses for the festival. And she had to pick them._

_She huffed. She did a mistake, asking to be treated as a grown-up; since that moment she had a lot of unwieldy tasks " suited for a big lady "._

_She went near the red wardrobe, ornated with painted and faded flowers, but something on her left gained her attention._

_There was a little girl, with white hair long until her shoulder. She was sitting near a round window and was lost in a book. She turned at her by chance and flinched, closing the volume._

_« Alaya, what are you doing here? » she asked._

_« Ehm... I was reading... » she answered, hiding behind the book._

_She knew that the little girl was weird, but she could not really understand how a stinky attic was a better place for reading than her garden or the other rooms._

_Maybe there is less noise?_ _She thought, looking for a valid hypothesis._

_But her unexpected presence could become useful. Alone, she would have brought them down with some difficulties, but with a little help..._

_« Can you help me? I have to bring down the dresses,» she asked, pointing the wardrobe._

_Alaya shook her head, hiding even more in her corner._

_« Sorry... I... »_

_She looked at her puzzled: why she was acting that way? She did not ask something impossible._

_« Do not tell mom that I am here. I do not want to go to the festival, and I do not want her to find me, so she could bring me with you,» she replied, leaving her stunned._

_The festival was the most long-awaited event of the summer. Not only their town took part, but also those nearby. And there were so many stands, food and music, anybody could not like it._

_« Why? Did you not have fun last year? » she asked, approaching._

_« The kids were nice, but the adults... I did not like their gazes... they were so mean... »_

_Alaya had lowered her head completely, and she felt sorry for that confession. The whole time she had thought to have fun and had not realized what her sister was going thought. She did not like that, because of some stupid adult, Alaya would have lost all the fun._

_She had promised she would always protect her and was not an exception._

_She sat next to her and tried to look into her eyes._

_« Listen... we can do this way: when there is the festival, we will go together, and we will have so much fun that the adults will be like... like... »_

_She thought a bit: what could be the best analogy?_

_« Ghosts! Yes, they will be there, but will not see them! »_

_« Are you sure? » her sister asked, lowering her book._

_« Yes, and now help me with the dresses. I want to get out of this attic! »_


	2. 2

« Marija? »

That voice brought her back to reality. She noticed that her sister had moved away from her mother. Her dress was slightly crumbled; her mother had embraced her very tightly.

« Sorry, I was lost in some memories, » she answered.

She looked again at the window of the attic, visible from the garden.

« Girls, be careful. See you later, » her mother said on the doorstep with a bit of emotion in her voice.

She waved back and went with Alaya along the pebble alley. She opened the small gate that would have brought them on the street.

Like the other years, a lot of people was going to the outskirts of the little town. That was the place of the festival.

It was a heterogeneous crowd; from children so excited they could not stand still; to young groups ready to have fun, until old couples that went slowly along the street. For just one night they had nothing else in their mind. There was no work, no homework, no everyday problems, only the festival.

She loved that of the midsummer festival. For once, she could alienate from reality and almost believe of being in another world, away from her routine.

_Will I be able to do that even this year?_ She thought, looking at Alaya gazing at the starry sky.

She realized she was having bad thoughts again and looked for a pretext to distract herself.

« Oh, look! Our old school! » she said, pointing at a huge building.

Under the light of the street lamps, it looked like a big gray and gloomy block.

But she remembered about the colourful hallways, different on every floor. And she also remembered about the window decorations, that changed during the year. If on the outside it resembled some quarters, on the inside, they tried to make it more lively.

« It has always been here. I do not understand why you are so surprised, » Alaya replied, turning at the school.

Her plane had not worked well and had to hold onto something to keep the conversation alive.

« Yes, but I mean... do you remember how primary school was, right? »

Her sister turned and gave her a look so cold that she understood the answer.

« I prefer to do not remember. »

« Ooook, at that age children are a bit stupid, mostly in the last years... »

« The kids were kids », Alaya replied, stopping her and looking in her eyes, « The teachers were the problem. »

***

_The azure hallway, decorated with drawings, passed next to her. She was running and had a precise destination. When she read the right plate, she stopped, and her ponytails swung._

_She opened the door and, as she expected, found her sister sat at her place. Her harms were on the desk, and her head seemed to sink inside them._

_It was not a good sign._

_« Why are you here alone? » she asked, worried._

_With time, her sister had tried to fit inside the class, but the results had not been brilliant. Despite everything, she strove to go outside with them in the garden. And, in worse situations, she dragged her sister to play volleyball with the other girls. She could not stand to see her alone e sullen on a corner._

_« The teacher told me, » she replied, turning lazily toward her._

_She huffed, approaching. If the teacher had said something like that, it was not because she was happy._

_« And why she said that? » she asked, sitting next to her._

_Alaya did not answer right away but, after she straightened on the chair, she said everything._

_« I have said that " The Song of the New World " is stupid. »_

_She was astonished; why the teacher disciplined her for that? She had also spent a playtime in the classroom. But she had pulled the hair of a boy that had mocked her._

_Alaya had not hurt anyone; she had just said what she thought._

_And she was made like that. It was usual that she did not like something._

_« No doubt that the teacher is weird. My classmates change it for fun, and nobody had never disciplined them. »_

_Her sister stayed in silence, and she made use for placing her harm on the desk. She knew Alaya was going to add something._

_« I did not change it. I told her that the lyrics are wrong. »_

_She blinked: she did not understand her sister and her weird arguments._

_« Have you ever read the text well? »_

_« Uh, no. I just sing it when they ask us,» she admitted._

_Since kindergarten, they were trying to inculcate that song and her, with time, was sick of singing it. She repeated the words like a robot, but she did not care about what she was saying. She just wanted that torture to end so that she could do something more interesting._

_« So, the lyrics say that the Refugees traveled on shining spaceships, looking for a new home. »_

_She placed her head on her hand; she would have soon attended a lesson held by Alaya._

_« And at some point, the ancestor of the President had seen some " cheerful and homely lands"... »_

_« " Their lawns smiled, and the waters happily gurgled. Oh, New Word"... »_

_« Marija... » her sister stopped her._

_« Sorry, it is automatic. You were saying...» she apologized and gave back her attention to her._

_« We can say that they are described as a Paradise created for the Refugees. But for sure they had been here for ages, and the natives were not waiting for us. And mostly they were not willing to welcome us. » Alaya continued, angry._

_« But this is history. It had nothing to do with the song,» she replied._

_She remembered she had learnt those notions in the past years, during the specific lessons._

_Alaya turned her face left; she had touched a sensible point._

_« Oh, oh, oh! Someone did not say that the song was stupid, but that the history book tells lies! » she mocked her._

_Her sister bit her lip, and she realized she was right._

_« You just need a small brain to understand that we intruded by force in some lands that were previously occupied. And they try to make us believe they "were given" to us as if he does not rule over us too. » Alaya said, pointing with her head to one of the three portraits on the wall._

_« Really? » she asked, even if that argument was a bit boring._

_She did not understand why Alaya thought about grown-up stuff. She worried only to do not take bad grades, or her mother would have been upset, but her sister was far away from that._

_« I do not like the President, as I do not like the others before him. They tell a lot of lies to cover what they are doing. »_

_« You talk like grandma... », she said, looking again at Alaya._

_« Well, she gave me grandpa's books... »_

_« Do you read grandpa's books? » she shouted, jumping on her feet._

_She remembered she had open them only once, curious to find out why he liked them so much. But, when she had seen there were no pictures, she had closed them immediately._

_« But... but they are for grown-ups! »_

_« But they have more information than the schoolbooks... »_

_Her sister tried to justify herself, maybe embarrassed by her words._

_Ayala had always had a sort of inclination for reading, but she would have never thought she had such a high level._

_She felt stupid compared to her; she had still not moved away from illustrated books._

_The bell rang, surprising both of them._

_« Sorry, I wasted your playtime... » Alaya said, sorry._

_« Do not worry », she replied, putting her hand on her shoulder, « I prefer that you tell me why are you sad than play volleyball. »_


End file.
